First Sight
by JustHereToTry
Summary: A modern, deeper take on the Little Mermaid. Ariel is a student at a local college trying to figure out her life and Eric is the new CEO to his father's corporation. Ariel happens to save Eric when he gets into a lab accident. Afterwards, he falls in love with the idea of his savior, though he remembers little of her and she remembers him all too well. And fate loves to play...
1. Prologue

The hospital room was somber. The familiar beeping of the electrocardiogram brought a false sense of hope to the six young girls in the room who were crouched alongside the bed. They could not yet understand goodbyes and forevers but the eldest, who sat beside them, but did not grasp onto her mother's hand. She had her arms about her knees and huddled into herself, trying to somehow grasp herself, to control herself, to maintain some sense of _something_.

The woman who laid on the bed was beautiful even in the bleak light of the ward. Her beautiful red hair was strewn on the pillow and even with her face gaunt, her eyes shone radiant. Her arms lay over the hospital blanket. One of her hands clasped with her husband's and the other arm grasped by the girls.

Her breath becoming more and more shallow but her eyes were locked with her husband's. He grasped her hand more tightly, afraid of hurting her but unable to let go, unable to bear the idea of letting go.

He kissed the back of her hand, "Please, sweetheart—"

Her eyes shone with tears held back; she brushed back a lock of his long brunet mane and cupped his cheek. "I wish I could," she whispered. "I wish I could."

"Is there anything I can do?" He whispered.

"Play for me, darling." She strained. "I just want to hear you one last time."

He had known this. They had talked about this, before, when all of this was future, when it could all be thrown away as hypothetical, when he could remove himself, he couldn't remove himself now. He couldn't stop this. All he could do was bring her some comfort in her last moments. He lifted the violin that lay beside him and played though his hands trembled.

The titillating song drifted into the hospital lobby outside. The song was deep, remorseful, chillingly sad, the kind of song that left one breathless, and choked up. It floated around the corners of the room, it lifted and dropped and ultimately crashed into another conflicting noise.

An endless note.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1.

The city lights glimmered down below. He could see the sky dimming, dimming, dimming to a beautiful dark blue tinged with reds and oranges and pinks and purples—sunset. The gleam of the sunset was only dulled slightly by the pollutants of the city. The people scurried about, ants from this height. Many were catching cabs, getting into cars, all small beetles squirming down infested streets. It had always been a pastime of his, people-watching, especially from this height when all was miniature and picturesque.

Eric turned from the window, and sat back down at his father's—no, his desk. He was not completely used to being the CEO of his father's corporation yet, though it had been nearly seven months since his father had passed. He briefly wondered if he would ever _really_ settle into his father's seat, both literally and figuratively. He palmed the chair's armrests, fingering the hemming on the chair. It was becoming a little loose, having been well worn through the years but Eric was not in any rush to change it; the chair's age and state gave him comfort. This chair had lasted them years; Eric could remember his father sitting in this very chair while Eric, at the time a small child, bounded up to him and jumped in his lap.

Eric shook himself free of his nostalgia. It was about time to be heading back home anyway; it was well past his usual leaving time but he had had a couple of documents that had needed his immediate attention. He resumed his focus on the final document, signed his name at the bottom, stapled them and then put them safely away in a folder so that the researchers who needed the access approvals could easily retrieve his permission. He tucked the unfinished documents away into his leather briefcase; perhaps, he'd finish them during dinner.

Eric emerged finally from behind his desk, briefcase in hand. He breathed a sigh of relief as he managed to finally stretch his legs. He turned off his desk lamp and made sure all other lights were turned off before stepping out the door.

"Hi, welcome to Chick-fil-A. How may I take your order?"

A flash of white teeth and a smile that didn't crease the corners of her eyes.

The quick flash of hands, a meal deposited into a bag or on a tray, and another flash of hands, this time with the tell-tale gray of a Citi-bank card.

A quick "thank you" uttered from countless other flashes of white teeth followed by an ingrained:

"My pleasure."

"Hey, Ariel, I can take it from here." Ariel breathed a quiet sigh of relief as her coworker, Douglass, took over her position, as her shift ended. She went to the back where the kitchen was and grabbed her lunch meal that was ensured with her shift, then sat down at one of the small bright red tables.

She laid her cap by her meal and massaged her temples—discretely, of course, can't have the customers thinking that you might be stressed— glad to have finally gotten to her lunch break. She nibbled off her chicken sandwich as she thought of her possibly future financial situation. Her family was doing great right now actually; her father was the CEO of a successful with his company. But recently, she had heard him arguing with his board. She wondered sometimes about what would happen if the problems did not work themselves out. Ariel had never been afraid of a little elbow grease anyway; her parents had always instilled in her the importance of hard work. But she was worried… sure, she was doing well enough for herself now, but her jobs would barely cover her and her dad…

She shook her head free of her thoughts. It was insane to think her father's company would fail and leave them nothing. _Insane_.

She reached in her pocket and popped open her compact mirror as she reapplied her previously fading bright red lipstick. She didn't like makeup too much, honest, but this red lipstick was her favorite. She glanced up from her mouth to her eyes. She was young and still wrinkle free and youthful, but she liked to imagine that one day she'd have laugh wrinkles round her eyes that spoke to her love for life. The bags beneath her eyes seemed to speak to something else entirely thought. She silently thanked the new under-eye cream she'd used this morning; it managed to somewhat conceal her massive bags. Ariel smiled to herself though— she hadn't been up late doing anything useful really, she had been reading the newest romance novel from her favorite author, Madison Gordon, but she just couldn't put it down!

She finished her sandwich, grabbed a napkin, and wiped away the grease from her fingers. She quietly exhaled once more, grabbed her cap, and wiggled it around 'til it fit just right. She threw her hair back behind her shoulders and smiled. _Everything would be all_ right she reassured herself. _Everything would be all right._

She dropped her purse off on the kitchen counter and tossed the keys onto the breakfast table. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and glanced at her notifications. She had a couple of email, updates from her online class, and a couple of texts from friends. She cleared all of them off her lock screen, and tucked her cellphone back in that pocket. She quickly threw off her work shirt into the laundry room and exchanged it with well-worn hoodie that was hanging off the back of a chair at the breakfast table. She poured a glass of water and went into the bathroom and grabbed her father's medicine from the mirror cabinet. Then she headed to her father's bedroom. She slipped the medicine MTWTF capsule into her pocket, then knocked on the door and opened— she was only knocking to alert him— to see her father on his laptop.

He looked up and smiled at her as he propped himself up better on the bed. Triton had once been a bigger man, built up with muscles, and supported by long and thick brown hair. His age hadn't taken away as much as his illness. His hair now tied into a low bun, still thick, but a steely gray and his arms had dwindled a bit. His keys stopped the flurry on the laptop.

"Hey, Dad, how you holdin' up?" she asked as she entered his room. She walked over to his night stand to set down the water and the medicine.

"I'm good, you know, feeling good. Just frustrated with the board."

"Yeah?" her eyebrows piqued in interest.

"They aren't on board with some of the new marketing plans. Ava is saying that they need more time to consider the plans but we are all out of time. It's just…" He trailed off and sighed. "Forget them. How is my favorite daughter doing?"

She smiled, "I'm good dad, school's just been annoying. I'm not doing so well in chemistry, well at least not so good in this unit. Y'know, acid and bases aren't exactly my thing."

"You still working at Chick-fil-A?"

"Yes, dad. I know you don't want me to—"

"Ariel, you can do whatever you want. But, I do not want your jobs affecting your school work."

"And it won't," she reassured him as she stood up. "Now, do you need anything other than your blood pressure medication?"

"No. Thank you, sweetheart."

"Alright, then Daddy, good night."

"Good night, Ariel."

She closed the door behind her and headed to her room. She put on a pair of pajama pants and sat down in bed and popped open her laptop for a second to check her assignment notifications for school. Reassured that nothing was due that night and she was caught up, she put away her laptop at the foot of her bed and grabbed the Madison Gordon book, _Meant to Be_. She got straight to reading.

 _Delilah glanced at the young man across from the kayak rental. He had gorgeous black orbs, framed by dark, long lashes and black hair that was ruffled by the gusty day. His name tag read Jay A…_

… _they gazed into each other's eyes across the dinner table, he clasped her hands, and she could barely hear the restaurant's music over the roaring beat her heart sounded in her ear…_

 _…they lay down on the picturesque red checkerboard picnic cloth, laughing at bad jokes, stomachs full of egg salad sandwiches, and their hearts full with something else entirely…_

… _Delilah just knew that she was in love with Jay. She had known from the moment she first she first had glanced into his beautiful eyes. Yes, he was who she was meant to be with…_

She propped up the novel onto her chest and gazed dreamily at the ceiling. She wondered when she too would find her "Jay." What would he be like? His likes, his dislikes, his hobbies? Would they both love sushi and watching romantic comedies? She fell asleep wondering what her "one true love" would be like.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you for the comments thus far! Constructive criticism is key so please tell me if there is anything I can be doing better, like whether I'm writing too much instead of focusing on the big stuff. Anyway, enjoy and don't forget to review!**

Ariel was rushing out the door, slipping on her sneakers, while her backpack was dangling off one arm that was also trying to make a messy yet somewhat presentable bun. She was going to be late for her art history class!

Ariel managed to run outside like mad and catch a campus transit bus on its way towards West Campus, and ultimately, her art class. Ariel leafed through a draft for her final paper on the way there. She was going to write about the history of the neoclassical movement, the inspiration for its emergence and ultimately its effect on architecture, and she felt as though her essay was lacking. Sure, it would probably score her the grade, but she did not want to just score the grade. She wanted something that would satisfy both her curiosity of the topic and her need to excel.

If a lightbulb could have gone off above her head, it would have. Ariel tucked her paper back away and pulled out her phone. She wanted to see if there were any art galleries or museums in the city that could help her gain a better understanding of the neoclassical artistic movement.

Yes! There was an art gallery downtown! She checked her schedule to see when she could head there. She had her art history class from 10:00 to 11:00, Biology from 12:00 to 1:30 and her shift at the campus library didn't start until 5:00 p.m. It seemed that Ariel was in luck. She smiled; she did not often let on, but though Ariel was a science major, Marine Biology to be specific, she always had a deep love for art, both its history and the action of creating it. Her mind briefly wandered to her sketch-filled notebook.

The bus's alert screen flashed VANDIVER HALL. Ariel collected her things, settled her bookbag securely on each shoulder, and nearly ran off the bus. She was going to make it but only if she ran to class.

Ariel skidded down the hallways and into her class with a minute to spare. She smoothed the fly aways from her haphazard bun back and pulled out her notebook for class.

"Ariel, did you sleep in again?" the blond boy in the next seat over chastised playfully.

"Oh, hush, Flounder! My phone didn't go off this morning," she pouted.

"So that's what you young kids call it now-a-days, huh?" he teased.

Before Ariel could come up with some witty comeback, her teacher entered the room. Ariel gave Flounder a meaningful glare and turned to pay attention to the class at hand.

Ariel packed all her things as class ended. Flounder walked beside her as they left class. "So, how are things going with Kilenya?"

Flounder smiled, "it's been great. We went to Lean's Bread Company last week and it was pretty nice. The food there's great. And she's pretty cool."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, Ariel, she's just...brilliant. Ugh, I know that sounds sappy. Don't say _anything_!" he interrupted, seeing as he knew that Ariel was going to tease him. Years of friendship gave her that license, she was pretty sure.

Ariel conceded. "O-kay! I won't." Flounder glared. She rolled her eyes "Really!"

Flounder started walking to the other side of the fork in the side walk. "Alright, I'll catch you later, Ariel!"

"Okay, see ya, Flounder!" she waved.

She actually happened to be a little excited—well, maybe not excited, maybe eager—for her chemistry class today. She loved chemistry and she hated that acids and bases were giving her such trouble.

Ariel pushed through the large doors of the lecture hall and sat down in her regular seat, which was up in the third row. Close enough to pay attention and far enough to check her phone when she needed to without the scrutiny of Professor Smith. As she sat down, Ariel noticed that the girl who sat a few seats down from her was visibly upset. She was texting furiously on her phone, her fingers jabbing into the screen with a flurry and her face was scrunched up unpleasantly. Her seat mates hadn't arrived yet and Ariel was a little concerned. Tiana, the girl who sat a few seats over was normally jovial, if not occasionally stressed. But never had Ariel seen her like this.

Tiana and Ariel were not great friends, but they were lab partners in their Thursday chem lab and their "friendship" consisted of shy, almost compulsory greetings when they saw each other around campus. Ariel slid down the row.

"Hey, Tiana, are you good? What's wrong?"

Tiana glanced up for the first time that day and her eyes flashed with something. She relaxed her face and breathed, "yeah, I…I'm good. Just a shitty day, y'know. My dad's in the hospital again. He's got a bit of a… a weak heart. Or well, heart disease."

"Oh my gosh. Tiana, I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do?"

"Nah," her smile morose "there isn't anything anyone can do but God and the doctors. Thanks though."

Ariel wanted to say more, do more, but she couldn't. She choked up for a second. She thought of Tiana's father in the hospital and thought of her own mother. She couldn't really remember her, but the image of the hospital brought something to mind, a memory buried deep. Red hair strewn on a white pillow—

"It's the least I could do, Tiana. Seriously, if there is anything I could do, let me know." She pulled herself away from her thoughts and from Tiana to make way as their usual seatmates came into lecture.

"Thanks, Ariel."

They both turned to the lecture about to begin, both with far too much on their mind.

Ariel walked towards the bus stop, and huffed a bit as the wind pushed her sloppy bun into a loosely tied mess, to put things lightly. She got to the stop and pulled out her phone as she waited.

She thought back to what had been on her mind all class. Her mother. She opened the Photos app on her phone and leafed through. She usually had something here—aha! There it was. A family photo with all of them. Her sisters and her father and mother and Ariel in the center of it all blowing out the five little purple candles on her birthday cake.

She smiled sadly at the photo. She had never had time with her mother, enough time. She could only remember glimpses. Flashes of a smile or a puzzle piece of green eyes. Sometimes she thought she could she could hear the tinkling of her laugh.

She sighed and titled her head upward towards the sky. It had clouded a bit since morning but the sun still poked through the gray.

The screech of a bus made her look to the road again. Yep, this was a bus going downtown. She climbed on and took a seat. She glanced from the window near her, all the cars going and coming, leaving campus, going to campus. Ariel pondered a bit on how she sometimes just wanted to drive and leave this city. Not to never come back but to _do_ something. She sometimes felt trapped in this city, the city that held her whole life, all the good, of course, but also all the bad.

Suddenly, her phone buzzed in her lap.

 **Flounder 1:42 p.m.**

Hey, wanna go to get Boba with me and Kilenya, tomorrow at the new Bubble tea place?

Ariel picked up her phone and texted back immediately.

 **Ariel 1:43 p.m.**

Sure! What time?

 **Flounder 1:43 p.m.**

how about 12:30

 **Ariel 1:43**

Sounds good to me!

Ariel opened her Calendar app. She input the date quickly. She had a penchance for forgetting things and after forgetting to go to her sister Attina's wedding rehearsal, Ariel vowed never again. So, now Ariel was devoted to her calendar app. Now her only problem was actually making it on time to stuff.

The museum pulled into view and Ariel tugged on the brake wire. The bus pulled to a stop, and Ariel just about leaped off, but not before blurting a quick "Thank you!" to the bus driver.

Ariel bounded up the steps and entered the museum. She saw a tour starting and she snuck into the back of the line. She took in all the art, and on the yellow notepad she had taken out of her book bag, she scribbled down anything of importance to her essay (or anything she wanted to look into later, she _did_ love art). She took note too, that the museum itself exhibited neoclassical architecture, with its large white pillars and the carvings on the outside.

As the tour started to end, Ariel glanced at her watch. 3:45 p.m. Two hours had gone buy and she had not even noticed. She thought it was apt time to break away from the tour and she went back to the artwork she had noted on her paper, to reexamine before her time was up.

And that was when he came into view. Handsome, and with a smile so brilliant she felt shook. He was there, in business formal, a suit and tie, shaking hands with who seemed to be the museum curator and he had a large artist's canvas bag slung over his shoulder. It seemed that he had just bought a piece of art. His baby blues had a warmth to them…

Ariel crept behind a pillar for a second because she hadn't just been casual looking; this was a full on _stare_.

And then, as it seemed as maybe this tall glass of water would turn her way, Ariel shook herself free of her wild thoughts. She was not sixteen anymore and this behavior and attraction was immature, to say the least. She stopped herself from turning back to take one last peek and walked away.

Eric grasped the canvas bag the rested on his shoulder and thanked the museum curator. He had been looking for a piece of art to not only brighten his office but to also make the office a little more his own.

He had been in the area, grabbing coffee and bagels and the place across the street when he had remembered the museum sometimes sold art from local artist. Eric was satisfied with the piece he had chosen. He didn't know much about art but it looked like a bit of modern cubism, abstract and bright.

Eric shook hands with the curator and started to leave. He ran his eyes over the attendees of the museum today; the diversity always did fascinate him; mothers with their children, gaggles of kids on a field trip, sometimes artists coming to get a feel for the gallery at hand. He watched them as though they were swatches of color leaving the building. Brown hair and blue jacket. Blonde hair and green. Red and purple. And then he walked out himself a blur of blacks and grays.

As Ariel walked back to campus for her 5:00 shift, she did a little window shopping at the antique stores. She had just bought some vintage jewelry last week, a simple ring with an almost infinity design and she had bought a vintage pipe for display on a whim. She did not have any money for anything else, but it was fun to look.

A music box in the shop caught her eye. It was beautiful, and round and Ariel felt somehow entranced by it. She entered the shop and heard the door jingle, but no one seemed to be around. She reached the table on which the box was displayed. It was a beautiful blue and with gold trimmings. She tentatively touched it—there was just something that told her not to, something inside her that was maybe a little scared. She ignored her instincts and opened the music box. The tell-tale sound of the gears started and then a beautiful song that drifted out. It lifted and dropped and Ariel's heart swelled with the music and her mind suddenly flashed to her mother.

She felt like she had heard this song before.

Eric hung the piece on the wall of his office. The bright colorful abstract image, with its oranges, and reds, and blues helped bring life to the light gray of the office. He sat down and opened his laptop and pulled his brief case out from underneath the desk

Eric had settled into his father's job relatively well. He had been of course prepared for this somewhat but no one had expected his father today from a brain aneurysm in his early sixties, so some of Eric's transition was not smooth.

Today was one of the days where he had to acknowledge those hiccups. Eric started pulling files out of his briefcase.

Eric got up to answer knocking at the door. "Ah, there you are Grimsby. All right, we're looking at the 2001 accounts, right?"

"Yes, have you already looked at the 2000 accounts?" Grimsby entered, filling the room with the smell of old tobacco.

"Yep, and everything seems fine."

"Alright then, then we can start."

Grimsby and Eric sat down, and Grimsby opened his files as well. They went back and forth, making sure that the accounts matched with Eric's father's accounts.

Grimsby uttered the next number. Eric furrowed his eyebrows in confusion for a moment, then his eyes widened.

"Wait… no, that can't be."

As Ariel came in to the house after her shift, she ran upstairs, but not before checking the MTWTF medicine box. As it happened, her father had taken his medicine today. She then ran up to her room and threw her bookbag on the bed. Making sure her door was closed, she opened her closet door and opened a box that was somewhat hidden by the clothing in her closet.

She delicately pulled from it a beautiful violin. She had found in the attic once when she and her sisters were playing years ago.

It was a deep mahogany color and the wood looked expensive. Its strings were horribly mangled though and half of the base was destroyed. Ariel stroked the wood of the violin, knuckles brushing against mangled strings, and she could hear that song again.


	4. Chapter 3

Ariel was in bed, propped against her headboard and snuggled in her blankets and in her coziest pair of pajamas, reading from _Meant to Be_.

 _Jay rowed himself and Delilah over the water of the lake. The lake was incredibly clear, and Delilah shivered a bit as her hand touched the cold surface of the lake. She peered in the water, blonde hair falling all about her face, and giggled as a small fish tickled her fingers as it swam past. She peered shyly at Jay, his hair ruffled by the fall winds, and his eyes, though dark, full of warmth._

" _So, do you come here often?" Delilah asked._

" _Yeah, all the time, really. My father used to take us here when me and Krish were younger. Those were the days, we'd swim til we were starving and pruned all over and we still wouldn't come out. Krish and I would pretend we were dolphins, and see who could swim out the farthest from the shore of the lake."_

 _"Wanna hear something wild? I didn't learn to swim til last year. I hated swimming when I was younger. My parents did, especially mom, but I, as stupid as it was, was afraid of sharks in the water." Delilah tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear._

 _Jay smiled, the smile reaching his clear blue eyes… wait, red hair, blue eyes?_

Ariel shook herself from her reverie. She had been imagining that handsome hunk from the museum. She had never been so blown away by someone, but that black hair and beautiful blue eyes in that gorgeous face had her "shook."

She attempted to shake that man from the corners of her mind; it wasn't like she would ever see him again. She turned over in her bed and turned her bed side lamp light off. She needed to get up early in the morning to volunteer for her lab. She closed her eyes and hoped that the museum man wouldn't appear in her dreams tonight.

It was the Tuesday morning cabinet meeting and yet, this was no normal cabinet meeting. The room was filled with suited persons hunched over a long standard conference table. The air felt tense and thick. The room sounded of shuffling papers, murmurs, and seemingly worried chatter. Most were peering over files, hundreds of files, both handwritten accounts and printed.

Eric and chief accountant Roger Grimsby sat at the head of the conference table, leaning into the chatter, both equally curious and worried about the situation.

"So?" Eric's voice cut through the hum.

Eyes in the room seemed to gravitate to a woman, seated at the middle of the table. She looked around, seeming both surprised and dismayed at the looks to her to speak, and smoothed the wrinkles out of her navy blue suit as she stood up.

"Sir, what we seem to have uncovered is negligent contamination. It's from years ago of course, and the company is beyond it now, as you have seen in your time as CEO," she gestured towards him, "but previously, it seems to be between the years 2000 and 2002, our company engaged in fraudulent behavior. We allowed batches of medication to enter the market that did not exactly work. Erm, well, it wasn't marketed properly." She paused and her face shifted a bit. "Fortunately, for most it appears their issues were psychosomatic, thus the medicine worked through the placebo effect. Unfortunately, there were cases in which there were people with issues that were physical and for them, the medication didn't work at all and or had side effects unseen in the testing."

"Unseen side effect?" Eric's eyebrows furrowed. "How severe were the side effects?"

"Unfortunately, sir, due the adverse outcomes of the medications, we had five main cases of severe outcomes. Three people," she handed files over, "Robert Tucker, Sergio Garcia, and Adelaide Hana were paralyzed because of the drug. As reparation, the company continues to pay their healthcare fees. And, two people, Jennifer Lee and Athena Meramec died due to the complications the drug caused with their existing conditions. Their families are also paid. Those payments were what you found in the accounting files."

Eric leaned back in his chair, a culmination of shock and worry twisted his face.

"And the follow-up? What did we do as a company afterwards?"

"Well, the good thing is since then, if there is a good thing here, really, is that we have enforced strict testing for all of medications to ensure that a situation like this never happens again. Of course, some people will have adverse reactions to drugs, but never again will it be due to a negligence on our part."

"Yeah," Eric rubbed his face in dismay. "Alright, that will be all for this meeting. Thank you all. I will see you at the next board meeting." Eric collected his files as his employees left the room. He breathed out, feeling weighed down by the information. He picked up his briefcase and walked out into the quiet hallway, the only noise being the electricity coursing through the walls.

Eric suddenly felt someone tug his arm in the hallway. It was Adrian, peering up at him with her maternal face. "I'm sorry, sir, but I thought there was one thing you should know. I worked with your father for years. Hans, he was a good man, you know as well as I do. And we all make mistakes, good people, and bad people alike. And I think he didn't tell you because he never wanted you to know about it. He didn't ever want you to be ashamed or disappointed in his actions."

She patted Eric on his arm, smiled a bit morosely, and walked on down the hallway. Eric stared on after her as she walked down the hall.

"Going to that lab?" Her father asked from his office.

"Yes, dad, I've told you before: I have volunteer hours at the Mohan lab every Thursday and Monday." She replied from her where she stood, dressed in a pair of slacks and a Polo-style shirt. She picked at the buttons on her shirt as she glanced in the mirror. She adjusted on her clip-on badge that read _Ariel Meramec — Research Assistant_ , _University of Louisana_. She let it shine in the mirror for a minute before she picked up her book bag and finally headed out the door.


End file.
